Joe Horlen obit

Cowboy Baseball Hall Of Famer Horlen Passes Away

 

 He was not on the list.

Oklahoma State baseball great Joel Horlen passed away at the age of 84 last weekend.

Horlen was a standout pitcher for the Cowboys in 1958 and 1959 who led OSU to the 1959 NCAA championship and was inducted into the Cowboy Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

A right-hander from San Antonio, Texas, Horlen posted a career record of 15-4 and a 2.26 ERA and tallied 128 strikeouts in 143 1/3 innings. He ranks 15th on OSU's all-time list with 15 complete games.

In 1958, Horlen was 6-3 with a 2.28 ERA and led the Cowboys in wins, strikeouts (52), innings pitched (66 2/3) and complete games (7).

Horlen capped his collegiate career with a storybook 1959 season in which he went 9-1 with a 2.23 ERA and once again led the team in wins, strikeouts and complete games. He collected All-America Second Team honors and was a first-team All-Big Eight selection.

The winning pitcher in the NCAA District V game against Bradley that sent OSU to the College World Series, Horlen opened the Cowboys' stay in Omaha with a complete game five-hitter in a win over Michigan in which he struck out nine.

With OSU facing elimination after a loss to Arizona, Horlen came back and tossed another complete game to get a win against Penn State. He struck out nine in the contest and also went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Horlen was named to the CWS All-Tournament Team as he went 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA and a tourney-best 18 strikeouts.

Following OSU's championship season, Horlen signed with the Chicago White Sox. He would pitch 12 seasons in Major League Baseball for the White Sox and Oakland Athletics, finishing with 116 wins and a 3.11 ERA in 361 appearances.

In 1967, Horlen was selected to play in the MLB All-Star Game. He went 19-7 with an American League leading 2.06 ERA for the White Sox, and he tied for the league lead with six shutouts. The highlight of his season came when he tossed a no-hitter against Detroit.

In 1972, Horlen won a World Series championship with Oakland; he went 3-4 with a 3.00 ERA and a save in 32 appearances that season, the last of his career.

He made his Major League debut against the Minnesota Twins in the second game of a September 4, 1961 doubleheader. He won the game in relief while wearing a numberless uniform, as the only available road uniform did not have a number.

Horlen pitched as a spot starter in his first two full seasons with the White Sox. In 1963, he returned to the minors to pitch four games for the AAA Indianapolis Indians, going 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA.[8]

In 1964 he earned a spot in the starting rotation, posting a 13–9 record and setting career bests in earned run average (1.88; second in the American League only to Dean Chance's 1.65) and strikeouts (138). He also led the majors by allowing only 6.07 hits per 9 innings, bettering Sandy Koufax's National League-leading 6.22. In the next 42 years, only eight right-handed pitchers bettered that ratio in a season. He also led the AL in Walks + Hits per IP (WHIP) (.935). That year his White Sox battled the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles for the pennant, but finished second, one game behind the Yankees and one game ahead of the Orioles.

In 1965 he was second in the league in shutouts (4), and was third in walks/9 IP (1.60). In 1966 he led the league in wild pitches (14), was sixth in hit batsmen (6), and was second in ERA (2.43).

Horlen's best season was in 1967; he finished 19–7 and led American League pitchers with a 2.06 ERA and 6 shutouts, was second in W-L percentage (.731), fourth in wins, complete games (13), and walks/9 IP (2.02), and 7th in innings pitched (258). He also led the AL in Walks + Hits per IP (WHIP) (.953). He was named to the American League All-Star team for the only time in his career, but did not pitch in the game. The highlight of Horlen's season was a clutch performance on September 10 as the White Sox were involved in a four-way pennant race with the Twins, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers; he no-hit the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park. It was 40 years until the next no-hitter by a White Sox pitcher at home was thrown, by Mark Buehrle in 2007 at U.S. Cellular Field.

Horlen recorded victories in his next three starts, including one five days later against the Twins. However, on September 27, which would be known by fans as "Black Wednesday", the lowly Kansas City Athletics swept a doubleheader from the White Sox and effectively eliminated Eddie Stanky's "Hitless Wonders" (the White Sox led the Majors with a 2.45 earned run average but also posted a .225 batting average, with no regular batting above .250) from pennant contention. Horlen lost the second game, as 21-year-old Catfish Hunter shut out the White Sox 4–0. The two games were the last played by the Athletics in Kansas City before the team moved to Oakland for the start of the 1968 season. The White Sox finished fourth, three games behind the Red Sox who, after finishing next to last in 1966, won the pennant on the final day, finishing one game ahead of the Twins and Tigers. Horlen finished runner-up to Jim Lonborg, the star of the Red Sox staff, in the American League Cy Young Award balloting, and fourth in MVP voting, won by Boston's Carl Yastrzemski.

In 1968 Horlen led the AL in hit batsmen (14). In 1970 he was fifth in walks/9 IP (2.14).